Saturday, January 24, 2015

Our Lady of Good Success for Our Times

Catholic writer James Larson has recently written an
extensive article based on the revelations of Our Lady of Good Success,
at Quito, Ecuador. He attempts to determine "God's secret designs" for
our times by analyzing these revelations. His position is that no matter how
bad things become, even if we are critical of the highest
levels of the hierarchy, we should not accept the alternatives of either
the SSPX or of Sedevacantism. Rather we must carry the cross of a
Church "which has descended from the glories of the past to the
prostitution of the present" and remain in "Christ’s Mystical Body which
is established upon the rock of obedience and submission to the Papal
Primacy of Government and Discipline of the Church." Following is a
short excerpt from this very long article (over 40 pages printed).

It
is the will of God that all Catholics be subject to the discipline and
government of the reigning Pontiff, even when that government and
discipline might be considered unjust.

Some pages later he continues:

Just
and temperate criticism of the errors of members of the hierarchy,
especially when these involve the teachings of our Faith, is the right,
and can be the responsibility, of any of the members of the Church. It
does not, when done rightly, break the unity and charity of the Mystical
Body of Christ; and it can even be an obligation of charity. We see
this, for instance, in Paul resisting Peter “to the face”, of St.
Catherine of Siena’s severe criticisms of such Popes as Gregory XI and
Urban VI, and especially in her scathing denunciations of the Cardinals
who elected the Antipope Clement VII.

Thus,
we see that there is no conflict between what Our Lady speaks of as
“full obedience”, on the one hand, and that lucid perception of the
truths and realities of our faith which permits, and can even require,
criticism of our superiors, including the Pope himself. But we will
never find a St. Paul, St. Catherine of Siena, or Mother Mariana
proposing the consecration of bishops expressly against a Papal mandate
not to do so, the forming of what St. Augustine termed “conventicles”
independent of the Pope’s jurisdiction, or claiming of the position of
Sedevacantism.

What
this entails is that the primary form of victimhood which now descends
upon the laity, in tandem with their defense of the Faith, is their
union with the Church. I have already detailed what this cost Mother
Mariana – including deprivation of the right to assist at Mass and
receive Holy Communion. There is no telling how far such deprivations
can go. There are innumerable gifts which have come to us through Christ
and His Church which we have come to assume that we have inalienable
rights, but to which we have no absolute right, and which God can will
to deprive us of in chastisement for our sins, and in imitation of His
own Passion. This can certainly include deprivation of the Traditional
Mass, and much else. If we think carefully about all this, we should
conclude that everything could conceivably be taken away except the
grace of baptism, and the grace of faith. These we can only lose through
the exercise of our own free will.

In
addition, there is no guarantee that members of the hierarchy, from the
Pope on down, cannot embrace philosophical and theological concepts and
pastoral practices which profoundly contradict the necessary
implications of magisterial doctrine. Such is precisely what is
happening with the Synod on the Family. Such also are the disastrous
acts of ecumenism engaged in by recent Popes. Interestingly enough,
probably the first recorded example of such magisterial contradiction by
a Pope was Peter. While having been the first to teach that Christ’s
redemptive act was for all men, and that “God is not a respecter of
Persons” (Acts 10:34), he yet refused to eat with the Gentiles in
Galatia “fearing them who were of the circumcision.” His action was
definitely in contradiction to the magisterium, but did not violate the
magisterium itself. The Church is now immersed in such contradictions.

All
of this can cause us to enter into deep levels of spiritual,
intellectual, and emotional deprivation and confusion. It threatens our
faith and charity, and presents powerful temptations towards those
disastrous excesses to which such movements as the SSPX and
Sedevacantism have succumbed.

For
those who choose not to abandon the Cross, however, it is within the
depths of this suffering that is to be found the grace of victory. As to
the possible extent of these sufferings, we need only consider the case
of Mother Mariana as a victim soul suffering five years in Hell for the
soul of the “Captain”. Even though her sufferings were more intense,
and accompanied by extraordinary phenomena (especially in the physical
realm), they also speak fully of what is “human” in all of us when the
soul is immersed in darkness. She speaks of tedium in all things
spiritual, and of being “completely insensible to her God”. Descending
even deeper into this darkness, she experienced hatred, fury, “unending
rage and despair”, and a “total suspicion with regard to God.” In a
Church which has descended from the glories of the past to the
prostitution of the present, having to pass through such spiritual,
mental, and emotional anguish and confusion is not inconceivable for any
one of us.

This is the ultimate test of our faith, and it is where love proves true. Herein lies God’s secret designs of victory.